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1. Preface
Good wishes for everyone. This article is all about writing a good Statement of Purpose or SOP. I am assuming that everyone who is reading this article knows about an SOP and its importance. I tried to summarize some key points on writing a good SOP and also some difficulties that BUET students usually face. Some thoughts expressed in here are solely mine. This article is an extended version of an email that I posted on Oct 01, 2006 on the csebuet@yahoogroups mailing list.
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cgpa than mine are also applying for this same university, should I go for it? I usually do not say no to this people unless they have a very low score compared to their high cgpa holder friends. Why? Once I talked to my departmental chairperson about the admission decision procedure for a little bit. She said when they get a lot of good applications with similar good results (which they always have); they pick up the successful ones who look promising. Now you might ask me two questions, a) what band of cgpa will I call similar results and b) how do I define who is promising? For the first question, it has no definite quantitative answer. I would say anything above 3.8 cgpa is similar. Likewise 3.6 to 3.8 may be considered as in a similar band. Others may come up with different ranges. In case of GRE, the same kind of ranging can be done. Now come to the second question, who is the promising candidate and how do you prove yourself as a promising candidate to the admission committee. The answer is the SOP. When everyone looks the same in terms of scores, your SOP gives you an edge. You better think of taking this SOP writing job into a serious consideration right away.
6. Do research on research
You read right, you will have to do research on research. Selecting which university to apply is a big
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dilemma for a student. One of the key factors that should be considered is what research opportunities are currently going on in that university. Go to their research web pages. Browse thoroughly. Then go to the faculty web pages. Find out what they are doing NOW. Professors generally have interests in multiple related fields. But at some point of time they work on some specific topics. Figure that out. Show your interest in your SOP on that topic. Most probably they have fund on those fields. Sometime looking at research projects web pages help a lot to get some idea about ongoing research fields.
7. Tailor it accordingly
May be you are not applying to only one university. Do you write only one SOP for all of them? Maybe not. Because different universities will have research strengths in different fields. You might want to modify your research interests a little bit so that it fits that particular university. As I said in my email, you will have to sell yourself. Give them whatever they want. You do not have to modify the entire SOP, just the place where you show your intent. In this case essentially you are writing only one SOP for all of them but just modifying a little bit to fit a certain university.
8. Consistency in interest
Be consistent when you state your research intent. Do not show interest in too many diverse fields. For example, showing interest in both Distributed Systems and VLSI is not a good idea. Maybe Wireless Sensor Networks and Distributed Systems sound a lot more consistent. Do not use some fancy words to sound yourself as if you know everything. Be reasonable. Ask your friends and seniors to know which fields are currently most active. Remember Information is the key. You can be miles ahead of others if you know more. If you can say something on these recent areas, it will give you a better position to impress the admission committee. For instance, wireless sensor networks, power-aware chip design are some of the most active research fields nowadays. Others can name more.
that relates to telecommunication, it can be a great plus point. Similarly those who are working in the software industry back in Dhaka can also focus on that. Whatever you have, show it. Sell yourself.
h) In one of the paragraphs, state the reason behind choosing that particular university that made you interested about that university. i) Five to six paragraph should be sufficient. j) Use standard font and font size. Do not use any kind of fancy font. Be professional. k) Focus on teamwork. People in here want a person to be team oriented. l) State the reason behind choosing a certain research area. m) Leave a sense of completion when you finish. Do not just cut off at some point. The reader should feel that you have said everything and nothing else is left. n) You can collect some sample SOPs from others to get an idea on how to write a good one. But never ever copy. Be genuine, be yourself. o) After writing a draft copy, print it and proofread. Correct the errors and again print and proofread, three times at least. The reader will reject you as soon as he finds that you do not know the basic rules of grammar. These people read hundreds of technical reports. They do not like grammatical mistakes at all. You mush have 0% tolerance for grammatical mistakes. p) Get corrections from at least two people. One who knows English grammar better and one who knows how to write a good SOP. Do not rely on your own instinct. Opinion from a different persons perspective always helps. q) Do not use tough words, like GRE words. It might be tempting to use those words as you might have just completed your GRE. But avoid this. Do not put too much shahitto in your writing. Use simple words and simple sentences. Do not use long complex sentences. r) You can also get some help online. There are tons of websites that can help you to write a better SOP. s) Do not procrastinate. Start writing today. Again I am telling you, it takes time. Edit, proofread, print, rewrite again and again until you are happy. Dont be happy too early. Criticize yourself. You are not competing with only other BUET people; hundreds of students from other countries are also competing at the same time.
11. Finally
Yes, finally I am done. But there is a big journey ahead of you. Be confident. Be positive. Wish you a big a success.
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